Summary
A total solar eclipse took place on June 21, 2001, with a magnitude of 1.0495. It was the first solar eclipse of the 21st century. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring 2.2 days before perigee (June 23, 2001), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
| Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001 | |
|---|---|
 Totality from Lusaka, Zambia by the Williams College eclipse expedition | |
 Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Total |
| Gamma | −0.5701 |
| Magnitude | 1.0495 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 297 s (4 min 57 s) |
| Coordinates | 11°18′S 2°42′E / 11.3°S 2.7°E |
| Max. width of band | 200 km (120 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| (P1) Partial begin | 9:33:04 |
| (U1) Total begin | 10:35:59 |
| Greatest eclipse | 12:04:46 |
| (U4) Total end | 13:31:37 |
| (P4) Partial end | 14:35:25 |
| References | |
| Saros | 127 (57 of 82) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9511 |
Many people traveled to Africa to watch the eclipse;[1][2][3] the Daily Telegraph reported that "while some tribesmen watch a celestial crocodile eating the sun, the modern African will be counting the cash brought in by thousands of visitors".[4]
Visibility edit
It was visible from a narrow corridor in the southern Atlantic Ocean and southern Africa, including Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the southern tip of Malawi, and Madagascar. A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including eastern South America and most of Africa.
Images edit
Related eclipses edit
Eclipses of 2001 edit
- A total lunar eclipse on January 9.
- A total solar eclipse on June 21.
- A partial lunar eclipse on July 5.
- An annular solar eclipse on December 14.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 30.
Tzolkinex edit
- Preceded: Solar eclipse of May 10, 1994
- Followed: Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008
Half-Saros edit
- Preceded: Lunar eclipse of June 15, 1992
- Followed: Lunar eclipse of June 26, 2010
Tritos edit
- Preceded: Solar eclipse of July 22, 1990
- Followed: Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012
Solar Saros 127 edit
- Preceded: Solar eclipse of June 11, 1983
- Followed: Solar eclipse of July 2, 2019
Inex edit
- Preceded: Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972
- Followed: Solar eclipse of June 1, 2030
Solar eclipses 2000–2003 edit
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]
Partial solar eclipses on February 5, 2000 and July 31, 2000 occur in the previous lunar year set.
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 117 | 2000 July 01 Partial (south) |
−1.28214 | 122 | 2000 December 25 Partial (north) |
1.13669 | |
127 Totality from Lusaka, Zambia |
2001 June 21 Total |
−0.57013 | 132 Partial from Minneapolis, MN |
2001 December 14 Annular |
0.40885 | |
137 Partial from Los Angeles, CA |
2002 June 10 Annular |
0.19933 | 142 Totality from Woomera |
2002 December 04 Total |
−0.30204 | |
147 Culloden, Scotland |
2003 May 31 Annular |
0.99598 | 152 | 2003 November 23 Total |
−0.96381 | |
Saros 127 edit
It is a part of Saros cycle 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 82 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on October 10, 991 AD. It contains total eclipses from May 14, 1352 through August 15, 2091. There are no annular eclipses in this series. The series ends at member 82 as a partial eclipse on March 21, 2452. The longest duration of totality was 5 minutes, 40 seconds on August 30, 1532. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.[6]
| Series members 52–68 occur between 1901 and 2200 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | 53 | 54 | ||
 April 28, 1911 |
 May 9, 1929 |
 May 20, 1947 | ||
| 55 | 56 | 57 | ||
 May 30, 1965 |
 June 11, 1983 |
June 21, 2001 58 59 60  July 2, 2019 |
 July 13, 2037 |
 July 24, 2055 |
| 61 | 62 | 63 | ||
 August 3, 2073 |
 August 15, 2091 |
August 26, 2109 (Partial) | ||
| 64 | 65 | 66 | ||
| September 6, 2127 (Partial | September 16, 2145 (Partial) | September 28, 2163 (Partial) | ||
| 67 | 68 | |||
| October 8, 2181 (Partial) | October 19, 2199 (Partial) | |||
Tritos series edit
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1901 and 2100 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 March 29, 1903 (Saros 118) |
 February 25, 1914 (Saros 119) |
 January 24, 1925 (Saros 120) | |
 December 25, 1935 (Saros 121) |
 November 23, 1946 (Saros 122) |
 October 23, 1957 (Saros 123) | |
 September 22, 1968 (Saros 124) |
 August 22, 1979 (Saros 125) |
 July 22, 1990 (Saros 126) | |
| June 21, 2001 (Saros 127) |
 May 20, 2012 (Saros 128) |
 April 20, 2023 (Saros 129) | |
 March 20, 2034 (Saros 130) |
 February 16, 2045 (Saros 131) |
 January 16, 2056 (Saros 132) | |
 December 17, 2066 (Saros 133) |
 November 15, 2077 (Saros 134) |
 October 14, 2088 (Saros 135) | |
 September 14, 2099 (Saros 136) |
|||
Metonic series edit
The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
| 21 eclipse events between June 21, 1982, and June 21, 2058 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 21 | April 8–9 | January 26 | November 13–14 | September 1–2 |
| 107 | 109 | 111 | 113 | 115 |
| June 21, 1963 | April 9, 1967 | January 26, 1971 | November 14, 1974 | September 2, 1978 |
| 117 | 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 |
 June 21, 1982 |
 April 9, 1986 |
 January 26, 1990 |
 November 13, 1993 |
 September 2, 1997 |
| 127 | 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 |
| June 21, 2001  April 8, 2005 |
 January 26, 2009 |
 November 13, 2012 |
 September 1, 2016 | |
| 137 | 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 |
 June 21, 2020 |
 April 8, 2024 |
 January 26, 2028 |
 November 14, 2031 |
 September 2, 2035 |
| 147 | 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 |
 June 21, 2039 |
 April 9, 2043 |
 January 26, 2047 |
 November 14, 2050 |
 September 2, 2054 |
| 157 | ||||
 June 21, 2058 | ||||
Notes edit
- ^ "Thousands gather in Zambia for total solar eclipse". The News and Advance. 2001-06-21. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Solar eclipse: Day declared national holiday as thousands come to Zambia". Hickory Daily Record. 2001-06-22. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "First total eclipse of new millennium sweeps across Africa". Arizona Daily Sun. 2001-06-22. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Tradition and tourism flourish in solar eclipse". The Daily Telegraph. 2001-06-21. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ "Solar Saros series 127". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
References edit
- Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2001 June 21". NASA, November 2004.
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Google interactive map
- Besselian elements
- Map Google
Photos:
- Spaceweather.com solar eclipse gallery
- Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Zambia
- Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Angola
- KryssTal - Eclipse in Zimbabwe - in a school by the Ruya River.
- Images from Zimbabwe by Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Archived 2009-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
- Eclipse in African Skies, APOD 6/22/2001, totality from Lusaka, Zambia
- Bakasa Eclipse Sequence, APOD 7/6/2001, totality from Bakasa, Zimbabwe
- A Total Eclipse Over Africa, APOD 7/11/2001, totality from Malambanyama, Zambia
- Madagascar Totality, APOD 7/26/2001, from southern Madagascar
- Eclipse Over Acacia, APOD 12/3/2002, from Chisamba, Zambia
- Moon AND Sun, APOD 11/22/2003, totality from Chisamba, Zambia